Sound of Verse: Piano Music by Pasternak, Ravel and Rachmaninov

Note from Inna Faliks: I have chosen the music on this CD because literature and poetry inspire me and often assist me in finding the kind of expression and colors I would like to communicate through music. Boris Pasternak s music is inexorably linked to his poems. The strange dynamic contrasts between short phrases in the sonata seem erratic until one looks at them as if they are lines in a poem, lines with a rhythm and rhyme scheme. Boris Pasternak s poetry moves me with its original, poignant imagery; each of his poems is a quest to connect to and to define the artistic process. This poet creates immediate and intimate contact with the reader/listener by opening and exploring his own soul unapologetic, unsentimental and lyrical. The same immediacy and frankness permeates his youthful music. I include Gaspard de la Nuit because, as with the other works, I connect to its vivid poetic context. The sensuous Ondine, the hypnotic Le Gibet and the passionate, sad and quirky Scarbo are powerful poetic images that give life to this music. Rachmaninoff s The Bells is one of my beloved choral-symphonic works. A translation of Edgar Allan Poe s poem of the same name inspired Rachmaninoff to create it. The original version of the Second Sonata, composed at the same time, exudes the same ominous colors, hypnotic luminosity, passion and pathos as the poem and the choral symphonic work, but ends with life-affirming exuberance.

Ukrainian-born American pianist INNA FALIKS has established herself as one of the most passionate and poetic artists of her generation. She made an acclaimed debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at age 15, and has since performed on many of the world s great stages, in solo appearances, and with numerous orchestras under conductors such as Leonard Slatkin and Keith Lockhart. In 2005, she won the coveted International Pro Musicis Award, which led to numerous performances including recitals in Carnegie Hall, Paris s Salle Cortot, and Boston s Pickman Hall. Other awards include first prize in the Hilton Head International Competition and Grand Prize in the St. Charles International Competition. She has performed at Verbier, Taos, Bargemusic, Brevard and other noted music festivals. Ms. Faliks tour of Russia in September 2008 was highly praised. Other recent performances include recitals in Art and Music at LACMA in Los Angeles, Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC, Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen, Pianoforte Salon Series in Chicago, and with Concert Artists of Baltimore, the Topeka Symphony, and the South Carolina Philharmonic. Her chamber music partnerships include performances with Colin Carr Nathaniel Rosen, Nina Beilina, Wendy Warner, and others. She has been featured on television and radio worldwide, including WQXR and WNYC in New York, WFMT in Chicago, and WGBH in Boston. Her repertoire encompasses both beloved standard works as well as lesser known and contemporary music. Her teachers include luminaries such as Boris Petrushansky, Gilbert Kalish, Leon Fleisher and Ann Schein. Her earlier studies were with Emilio del Rosario in Chicago, and her mother, Irene Faliks. Inna Faliks innovative interdisciplinary series of contemporary poetry and live piano performances, Music/Words, began in October 2008 in New York. Ms. Faliks, a featured artist at the Streaming Museum, a global online multimedia arts space, credits her love for poetry to her upbringing in the lively city of Odessa, Ukraine.